Content creation applications such as notebook applications, word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, and presentation applications are useful tools for generating and curating content. These and other content creation applications are increasingly including “inking” functionality that lets users input content and interact with the application (and content created therein) through using a pen or stylus (and sometimes fingers or other objects) in a manner evoking a pen on paper.
A user's ink strokes can be identified, for example, as a picture, diagram, shape, math, or text. Recognizing the content of the user's ink allows for an association of the ink with its meaning or exchange the ink strokes with the content it represents. For example, if a user is drawing a circle in the content creation application, the content creation application (via, for example, a recognition engine) can recognize the shape the ink strokes represent and display the shape to the user in place of the ink strokes.
Currently, ink objects only are able to live as ink objects. Once they are converted to another object they stop being related to their previous ink incarnation and the user is not allowed to revert back to their original content. For example, an undo command can restore the original version of the ink object but does not allow navigating back and forth between those two states, since they are different objects.